Vesuv, Venus
Saskia Groneberg
Self-Published
Hardcover
144 pages
250 x 310 mm
2015
‘Vesuv, Venus’ is a fragmentary story in pictures in the setting of the first large landscape park in mainland Europe, the Wörlitzer Park. Tourists move like figures in a tableau vivant in the dreamlike, historic (and historistic) scenery of the park. In her mostly classically composed photographs, Saskia Groneberg draws a connection to landscape painting and deliberately disguises the aspect of time. Winter follows spring, detail follows sequence, dream follows deconstruction. Idyll is an illusion, the park an artificially created, dynamic place which has to be continuously maintained, renovated and ploughed. This becomes evident when looking at details such as railings, growing aids and the traces made by agricultural vehicles.
About the Artist
Saskia Groneberg was one of the shortlisted artists for Prix Pictet Space in 2017, along with artists such as Thomas Ruff, Richard Mosse, Beate Gütschow and Rinko Kawauchi. Her work has been exhibited in institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum London, the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, the LUMA Westbau Zurich, the Museo de Arte Moderno Mexico City, the Museum für konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt, Fotomuseum Winterthur, and others. Saskia Groneberg lives and works in Berlin and Munich.
